What Else Google Is Up To

The company’s massive book scanning and indexing project, recently validated in a court decision, is just a small piece of what the company is actively working on. Freelance writer Steven Brachmann looks at some of the patents the company is either seeking or protecting as it continues to expand, consolidate and integrate its businesses and functions. The patents include a system for real-time detection and removal of viruses in an email system; a two-keyboards-at-once display on a tablet, allowing the user to chat in two different languages; a method that provides social media content to the links available to a news aggregator; and, as  a possible boon to musicians who want to make sure they are getting their royalties, a system that analyzes multimedia streams and recognizes melodies.